


Some moments are destined, Others are by chance

by RealityXIllusion



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Adult Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric And Cats, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Edward Elric, BAMF Roy Mustang, Big Brother Edward, Edward Elric Swears, Edward Elric actually gives a Shit, Gen, Not a State Alchemist Edward Elric, Parental Maes Hughes, Parental Roy Mustang, Protective Edward Elric, Protective Older Brothers, University Student Alphonse Elric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2020-11-16 13:50:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20830952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityXIllusion/pseuds/RealityXIllusion
Summary: Moving to Central when Al decided he wanted to go to the University was… weird. Not in a bad way, but it was certainly different from what Edward was expecting. That and the people were definitely not what he expected at all.ORWhat if Mustang never went to Resembol and Edward never became a State Alchemist?





	1. Welcome to Central, Occupation? A Shitton of people with issues.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a divergence from the show, mainly because in this story Edward attempted to perform human transmutation on his own. The result being he lost his arm and his leg, he would've lost a hell of a lot more had he not stopped while he had the chance. There were no rumors of Alchemist in Resembool so Mustang had no reason to go find the Elric brothers, in turn, he wasn't there to offer Edward to join the military.  
Al still has his own body, and both brothers can perform alchemy only Edward can do so without first drawing an array.

Moving to Central when Al decided he wanted to go to the University was… weird. Not in a bad way, but it was certainly different from what Edward was expecting. Mainly because there were so many people here compared to Resembol. It felt suffocating, but Edward kept his mouth shut. He knew how excited Al was to come here, he didn’t want to ruin that by complaining about something he would probably get used too.

That didn’t make it any less annoying when he couldn’t even make their way to the University without bumping into people.

“Isn’t this fun!” Al laughed, his eyes lighting up in a way that Edward hadn’t seen in years.

“Yeah,” Edward gritted his teeth, “At least with you staying in the dorms you won’t have to worry about running late to classes or anything.”

That was another thing that was bothering him. Al moving into one of the dorms on campus while Edward lived in a relatively nice apartment about two to three blocks away. They both agreed that Edward would live in the apartment and Al would spend the weekends there but Al was the one who pleaded with Edward to let him stay in the dorms. Wanting to fully experience the college life, and all that other crap Edward overheard Al and Winry gossiping about.

While the scholarships did cover a majority of the expenses, Edward got a fulltime job as a translator in the local library to pay for the apartment. 

The pay wasn’t the best but it was certainly better than it could’ve been. 

At least he didn’t have to worry about keeping a roof over their heads, and he had enough left over to pay for groceries. He didn’t even have to buy that much considering Al only ate at the apartment on the weekends, and that was only if he came home from the dorms. While Al was supposed to come home today, a call earlier this morning left Edward with no plans for the weekend. It didn’t bother him as much as it did when they first moved to central, he understood that the upcoming weeks of midterms were nervewracking and Al needed to study.

There was no doubt in his mind that Al would pass with flying colors.

While he was a tad put off by finding himself with nothing to do, Edward decided that at least he now had time to put in some overtime on those older books some military personal dropped off at the library a few days ago. He made sure he wasn’t there when the military was but that didn’t mean he was going to shrink his duties.

Getting dressed and snatching an apple from the basket on the table, Edward made his way out the door.

Thankfully, it was still early enough that he didn’t have to worry about any crowds on his way to the library. The only thing that stood out so far was a group of kids accidentally knocking over a stand while playing around. Honestly, he was glad there didn’t seem to be anything odd going on. If he could get through today without any headache-inducing annoyances then that would be amazing. 

They’ve only been in Central for roughly three months and he still wasn’t sure how he felt about it. 

For the most part, he did get used to the abundance of people. However, he still had his moments where he had to rush off someplace where there was no one around just so he could calm down. It wasn’t just claustrophobia that bothered him, sometimes while he’d be out walking he couldn’t help but feel as though someone, or something, was staring at him. Like now for example. He wasn’t even a quarter of the way to the library and already a shiver went down his spine at the all too familiar sensation of eyes attempting to stare into his soul took over. This was getting annoying. 

Edward glanced around him, seemingly nonchalant as he took in his surroundings. 

There wasn’t much that stood out to him, a bunch of nameless people going about their day, cars driving pass with some going faster than others. A few people calling out those they recognized in passing, and dogs barking. There was nothing odd about any of that only… Edward couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong. It was on impulse that he made his way through the streets at a slightly faster pace than usual. Practically running into the library by the time he made it there.

“Edward!” 

Pausing just inside the doors to catch his breath, Edward turned, looking towards the front desk at a startled librarian. “Good morning, Mrs. Durne.”

“Good… good morning,” Mrs. Durne blinked, “Are you alright? Did you run here? Edward, you aren’t even scheduled to come in!”

“I know, I know.” Edward grinned sheepishly, “I figured since I had some free time for today I would get a headstart on looking at those books that officer dropped off.”

“Oh! The ones Colonel Mustang left here? His lieutenant called a few minutes ago to check in on that, I told her you were going to start on them when you were next scheduled to come in.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m here now, huh?”

“Very well, but please don’t spend the whole day crammed in that office, Edward.”

Edward tossed a wave over his shoulder as he made his way toward the back of the library. His office was actually once of the old storage rooms but none of the librarians seemed to mind that he took over it. Once inside, turning on the light as he tossed his jacket over the back of his chair, Edward went over to the window about to open the shades but hesitated. He still had that feeling of being watching settled over him, though it was better than it had been before. Frowning, Edward left the shades down as he made his way over toward his desk.

He had work to do.


	2. Recipe for Disaster

Sometimes Edward had to wonder just what the actual fuck was going on with the military. Not because of any of the shit he’s read about in the news but rather because of one of the books they wanted him to translate was some cookbook. It wouldn’t have bothered him so much if the book had been in another language and needed to be translated but instead the book was clearly written in Amestrian. What bothered him the most was realizing the cookbook was actually a book written in code, written in code about something called a Philosophers stone.

He had no way of telling just how long he spent leaning over his desk, going through the book page by page before starting over again.

By the time he finally figured out just what the hell this Marcoh guy was writing about, the sliver of sunlight that came in through the shades was long done and any noise from out in the library had faded away. Any other time Edward would be broken out of his stupor by his stomach demanding he go find himself some food, instead, all Edward felt at the moment was nausea and an urge to punch something because-

What the _hell. _

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Edward hesitantly picked up the cookbook, _ A cookbook. Calling a How-To guide for a fucking Philosophers stone a cookbook was just sick _ and shoved it to the bottom of the pile of books the military dropped off. His own notes on the matter, he bundled them all up and shoved them into his suitcase. There was no way in hell he was going to leave that in his office, not where someone could easily get inside and see them. Edward glared at the remaining books he had to translate, Mrs. Durne had said the guys' name was Colonel Mustang right?

If he ever saw that Colonel Bastard, he was going to punch him in the face.

He didn’t care what the repercussions would be. There was nothing that could convince him, sharing just what that damn book was actually about would be a good idea. Edward startled as the door to his office swung open, revealing a frowning Mrs. Durne.

“Edward Elric! Didn’t I tell you not to stay here all day? Not once, since we opened this morning have I seen you leave this room. You haven’t even acknowledged Catrina when she stopped by during her shift!”

Edward's eyes widened, If catrina stopped by his office, he definitely didn’t hear her, and that meant it was far later in the day then he realized. “Sorry, you know how I get-getting caught up in my work and all that.”

“Have you at least eaten something?”

Almost as if on cue, Edward's stomach growled. Mrs. Durne sighed, shaking her head and leaving Edward feeling oddly bad for disappointing her.

“I’ll pick something up on my way home, I promise.”

“Alright, but I want you to get going now. You’ve been here long enough, go out while there’s still a few hours of daylight left at least.”

Edward gathered his things, leaving the cookbook behind but grabbing the two other books he had to translate. If he was going to pretend to have ignored the cookbook’s existence he had to at least get some other work done to make up for today. He’ll just have to stay up a bit later than he wanted to get his work done. While he did promise to get something to eat, his stomach was still uneasy enough that he knew eating was out of the question. Though he did need to stop by the store and pick up a few things, mainly just eggs, bread, and a few snacks.

Sighing, Edward waved goodbye to Mrs. Durne and set off toward the grocery store, if his stomach felt a bit better then he’d grab a sandwich on his way home.

He couldn’t get what he learned out of his head… to sacrifice human lives… all just to make some kind of Philosophers stone. It pissed him the hell off. What did that Marcoh guy think he was doing writing about that kind of thing? And with what he said about the Ishvalan war, all those people killed just to make a stone… Edward gritted his teeth, just barely managing to keep from lashing out. He wanted to hit something, preferably a certain someone but he knew that he couldn’t. Not now at least.

If he punched Mustang then there was no doubt that the repercussions could fall back to bite not only him but Al in the ass as well.

He’d have to settle for making sure that no one from the military learned the truth. 

He couldn’t destroy the book, not when Mustang and God knew who else knew that he had it. He could at least play it off as being nothing more than an ordinary cookbook. The code Marcoh had used was not child's play, Edward knew it was unlikely anyone would be able to decode it. The only reason why he was able to figure it out was that he was used to decoding in the first place. The alchemy knowledge Marcoh used was not new to Edward, in fact, it was stuff he’d known ever since he was a kid. That, and he had seen a book or two about Philosophers stones before, only they never went into as much detail on how to create and even how to destroy them as Marcoh did.

The destruction part of the cookbook held less information that was factual and more than seemed like theories not yet tested or proven.

Working in one of the branches of the National Central Library was showing to be far more interesting than he first thought. He what Mrs. Durne told him was correct, then the books Mustang dropped off for him to translate were all from the first branch. The main branch cut off from the public and only allowed access to military personal. He wanted to contact Al, get his opinion on things but they… they’ve avoided talking about any alchemy that involved messing with human lives after what he did.

...Maybe it’d be for the best if he kept this away from Al, just until he knew more about it.


	3. The Hughes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if any of them seem out of character, just remember that Edward is roughly an adult in this story.

Entering the grocery store, Edward kept his head down as he grabbed a basket and made his way through the aisles. He couldn’t hold back the grimace as he noticed the brunette working one of the cash registers. It was the same girl who apparently knew absolutely nothing about the meaning of personal space any time he shopped here and she was working. He had told her, multiple times even, that he was not interested. While Al seemed to find the situation hilarious, Edward just wanted to bash his head into a wall just to get out of any attempts at conversations she tried. He was already in a bad enough mood from the library, he did not need her making it any worse.

Edward weaved through the few people in the store, quickly snatching what he needed from the shelves and moving on to the next item.

It was just as he was making his way down the frozen foods aisle that he ran into a little girl. Literally, she was crouched down just out of sight and he didn’t notice her until it was too late and he went sprawling on the ground as he tripped over her tiny legs. Edward groaned, his knee hit the ground hard enough to jar the automail. He pushed himself up and turned toward the little girl, her teary eyes keeping him from getting to his feet. Biting his lip, Edward ignored the looks everyone around them was tossing in their direction. 

He pushed his basket out of the way so no one would trip over it, mentally relieved that he didn’t go grab the eggs yet.

“...Are you alright?” Edward asked quietly, not entirely sure if his presence would upset the girl further or not.

He knew his automail didn’t hit her, if it did then she definitely would’ve been more hysterical from the pain, not just sitting there quietly crying.

“I-I lost mommy and daddy.”

Edward blinked, “You… Did you get separated from them?” Seeing the girl’s nod, Edward continued, “Well, it was smart of you to stay in one spot to wait for them, but it’s not safe to be sitting on the ground like this.”

The girl hunched over, bringing her knees up to her chest and Edward fought down the panicked urge to apologize.

“Why don’t we go to the front of the store, we can wait by the registers until your parents show up okay?”

“Will… will you stay with me?”

Edward smiled gently, “Of course, we can wait up there together, okay? My names Edward.”

“Edward?” The girl smiles, hesitantly, “...My name is Elicia, daddy says to always introduce yourself to your friends.”

Edward faked a gasp, waiting until he had Elicia’s eyes on him before beaming at her, “Yay! So I guess I have a new friend now, huh?”

Elicia giggled, “Mmhm! Friends are nice to each other, and you’re nice to me. Mommy has my snacks but I’ll share them with you when we find them, okay?”

“Looking forward to it.”

Edward held his basket in his automail arm, with his suitcase haphazardly stuffed inside it as well while he held out his other arm for Elicia to take his hand. He made sure to keep his strides shorter so Elicia wouldn’t have to jog in order to keep up with him. It was as they were nearing the front of the store that Edward noticed the scowl on the brunette girls’ face, she looked almost grossed out. It took him a minute to realize that the look wasn’t being aimed at him, but rather at Elicia by his side.

Edward furrowed his brow, guiding Elicia towards the other registers as he shot a glare over his shoulder at the girl.

She looked startled but Edward couldn’t care less, maybe now when he shopped her she would leave him the hell alone. 

“Excuse me,” Edward set his basket down on the counter as he turned toward an employee, “This is Elicia, she says she got separated from her parents. Do you guys have an announcement system or anything?”

“Oh! Oh yes, of course.” The older man frowned, “Elicia you said?”

“Yeah.”

“Elicia Hughes!” Elicia cut in, “That’s my last name.”

“If you wouldn’t mind waiting right here?” Seeing Edward nod, the older man Josh if Edward read the nametag correctly, heading towards a door that said employees only.

Not even a minute later, static was heard over the stores’ speakers before Josh’s voice came out, “Would the parents or guardians of Elicia Hughes please report upfront to register 7? I repeat, the parents or guardians of Elicia Hughes report to register 7, please.”

Edward just about had a heart attack as he glanced around him just to see some man come barreling towards him, with tears streaming down his face.

“ELICIA!” The man wailed as he dropped to his knees, “Daddy’s so so sorry! He was so worried when he couldn’t find you! Are you okay? Nothing happened to you right?”

Edward jerked back, wanting to get away but also not wanting to leave Elicia on her own until she confirmed that this guy was actually her father. Though, seeing that delighted smile on her face and the way she was giggling as the guy rubbed his beard against her cheek had Edward calming down.

“Elicia!” Edward watched as a woman made her way over towards them, smiling softly as she knelt down next to Elicia and the man, “I’m glad you’re alright, sweetheart.”

“Big brother Ed helped me!” Elicia held her arms up towards the woman, laying her head down on the woman’s chest as she picked her up, “He was nice, and he’s my new friend! I told him I’d share my snacks with him because you said that friends share. Right, mommy?”

Edward smiled nervously as he suddenly found himself the center of attention as both adults and Elicia looked at him.

“Oh!” The man rushed over toward him, causing Edward to flinch as the man grabbed his hands and silently hope the man couldn’t feel his automail through his gloves, “Thank you for helping my beautiful Elicia!”

“Maes, honey I think you’re scaring him.”

“Huh?” 

Edward pressed his lips together tightly, forcing a smile on his face as he pulled his hands away from the man. “I take it you guys are Elicia’s parents then?”

“Yes,” The man smiled apologetically, “I’m Maes Hughes and this is my beautiful wife, Gracia and you already know our darling Elicia!”

“We have to share my snacks with him!”

Edward shifted away from Hughes and smiled over at Elicia, “Don’t worry about it, I’m not actually hungry but thank you, Elicia.”

Elicia pouted, and for a brief second Edward was worried that she was going to cry as there was a sheen to her eyes, “But you helped me, I wanna do something for you too!”

Edward hummed, “Well… Do you know what will make me happy? If you give your mommy and daddy a really big hug, okay? And promise not to get separated from them again.”

Elicia nodded, looking oddly determined as she turned and squeezed her arms around a very fond yet serious Gracia’s neck. After a moment, Elicia twisted around and held her arms out toward Hughes who gathered her into his arms and hugged her back just as tightly. Edward couldn’t help but grin at them. 

“Excuse me, Edward?”

Edward shifted his attention to Gracia as Hughes started pressing kisses all over Elicia’s face, “Yes Mrs. Hughes?”

“Thank you for finding our daughter, and for waiting with her until we showed up.”

“You’re welcome,” Edward chuckled, rubbing at the back of his neck, “To be honest, I found her by accident. She was sitting on the floor by the frozen foods aisle.”

He decided it would be best not to mention how he tripped over her.

“Uh, Sir?”

The employee, Josh, gestured at Edward's suitcase and the now-empty basket, “I wasn’t sure if you were finished shopping or not, but I rang up what you had in the basket.”

“Oh, oh shi-uh shoot. Yeah, yeah I’m done. Thank you.”

Technically he wasn't done since he didn't get to grab the eggs or any ground beef but he could always just come back tomorrow.

Edward quickly took out his wallet, handing over the right amount before moving closer to the end of the counter to grab his bagged groceries. He waited until he had his receipt and change put away before grabbing his suitcase with his free hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, have a nice night!”

Edward nodded his head, already turning away from the cashier, somewhat startled to see the Hughes family still standing there. However, before he could say a word Hughes handed Elicia off to Gracia before taking Edward's grocery bags out of his hand.

"I'll carry these for you."

"What?" Edward blinked, "Uh, Mr. Hughes, you really don't need to do that. I didn't drive here or anything."

"Don't worry about calling me Mister," Hughes laughed, "Just Maes or Hughes is fine."

"I-"

Hughes pressed his hand against the middle of Edward's shoulder blades, herding him out of the store with Gracia and a yawning Elicia following.

"I borrowed a car from work so we can give you a ride back to your place. It's already pretty late, I prefer it if you let us give you a ride rather than you walking back on your own."

"...I'm not really comfortable accepting a ride from strangers."

"Oh come on Ed, we aren't really strangers since we've already introduced ourselves to each other!"

"Edward," Gracia shot Hughes a look, "If you really aren't comfortable with getting in the car with us then we understand."

"I…" Edward sighed, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah I'll… I'll take the ride if it's alright."

Besides, it wasn't like he didn't know how to protect himself. Plus he could get Hughes to drop him off near his apartment without actually revealing where he lived.


	4. Personal hygiene at its finest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do teachers always decide October is the perfect month to assign so many essays?

Instead of staying up to get some work done, Edward ended up falling asleep the moment he sat down on the couch. Thankfully he managed to put all of the groceries away but he didn’t expect to suddenly pass out just from sitting down for a few moments. Then again, it wasn’t like he’s had the best sleeping schedule the past few weeks, not with the anniversary coming up. Though he wished he would’ve at least made it to his bed, sleeping on the couch was never comfortable and the crick in his neck did not seem to be going away anytime soon.

He probably wouldn’t have been so tired if Hughes didn’t spend close to an hour standing outside the car where Edward asked to be dropped off, showing him all of the pictures he had on him of Elicia and Gracia. Yes, it was cute, but that didn’t mean Edward enjoyed having to stand in the middle of a sidewalk in front of some strangers' house as a guy he literally just met told him his life story.

Groaning, Edward shuffled into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

At least with it being the weekend, he didn’t have to worry about heading into work. Working longer shifts during the week made it easier to take the weekend off and explore Central. There were still tons of places he had yet to visit, and if he was planning on living here for an uncertain amount of time Al would be at College then he’d prefer to know his surroundings. He could say with absolute certainty that he could navigate his way around the areas by his job, the apartment, and the campus. It was remembering his way back home while wandering around which proved to be more difficult.

Either way, he usually made it back to the apartment by nighttime, early morning if he was truly lost.

Leaving his towel wrapped around his shoulders, Edward carried his suitcase over toward the couch and set it on the coffee table. If he wanted to get around to exploring Central, then he’d need to get at least some of his work done first.

Picking up the smaller book, Edward combed through the first few pages. 

Thankfully this book didn’t seem to be coded or about the Philosophers stone. It just seemed to be about some Xingnese culture, and customs that had to be translated into Amestrian. A relatively easy task, he was fluent in speaking Xingnese though his knowledge of Xing wasn’t as vast as he would have preferred. He’d be able to translate the book at his apartment but he would need to double-check everything at the library to ensure he didn’t misinterpret anything.

Though it seemed odd that the military would need a book on Xing translated when it was well known that Amestris and Xing had little to no contact with one another. 

Edward couldn’t help but grin as he read over the section on Xing’s alkahestry. 

Al would love to read through it, they only began learning about alkahestry and something called the Dragon’s Pulse a year or so ago. Any little bit of information he came across was better than nothing at all. The libraries in Resembol and Dublith only had one or two books on Xing, the information mostly filled with folklore and a brief description of Xing’s landscape. Humming softly, Edward rewrote everything, word for word. He’d remember it all for the most part and he’d tell Al about it the next time they saw one another.

Roughly estimating, it took him a little over three hours to finish the first half of the book. 

The only reason why he had to stop for now was that his stomach kept growling at him, the noise providing an unwelcome distraction.

“...Guess I should’ve had breakfast after all.” Edward muttered, wincing as his back popped the moment he stood up.

Making his way into the kitchen, Edward grabbed a few slices of bread and laid them out on the counter. There was some sliced turkey leftover, taking the remains Edward split it between the two sandwiches and spread mustard across the bread. Sandwich wise, this was blander then what he usually had, but Edward wasn’t entirely picky about food when he was hungry. He forgot about eating yesterday so this would have to do until he finished his translation and could work on dinner.

Before for he could even take a bite of his sandwich, the landline began to ring.

Scowling, Edward dropped the sandwich back onto the plate before heading over to answer the phone. “Hello?”

“May I speak with Edward Elric?”

Edward blinked, “Uh, yeah. You are, I’m Ed.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Elric. My name is lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, I am calling on behalf of Colonel Mustang about the books he dropped off at the library for translation. Mrs. Durne says that we could reach you at this number to check in with your progress.”

“Okay, did you want to know how far along I am?”

“If you don’t mind my asking. We would like to know how much longer until you’ve finished the translations.”

Edward tilted his head, his eyes darting to the book he was halfway finished and the remaining book he had yet to start. The last book wasn’t particularly large… “I should be able to finish the two books by tomorrow. They can be picked up from my office around twelve?”

“If I remember correctly, there were three books. Weren’t there?”

“...There were. The third book was a cookbook already written in Amestrian. So I left it alone, there was nothing for me to translate.” Edward grimaced at the reminder of the cookbook sitting in his desk.

“You said a cookbook?”

“Yes, by Dr. Marcoh? It was filled with recipes and ingredients but that’s it.” Edward gritted his teeth, “I left it at my office since it didn’t need translation, I assumed it was added to the pile by accident.”

“I’m afraid we weren’t aware of what books were in the pile. Thank you anyway, Mr. Elric. The Colonel and I shall stop by to pick everything up tomorrow.”

Edward bid the Lieutenant a good night, sighing in annoyance as he realized that the accidental reminder of what he found out had successfully chased away his hunger. He couldn’t exactly go another day without eating, not if he wanted to be able to stay up to do with work without any interruptions. Plus if Al or Winry found out he was forgoing eating to focus on other things again then they might actually try to kill him.

Until he found a way to hide those damn wrenches, he wasn’t going to risk Winry’s wrath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have way too many ideas running rampant, there are so many ways I could make this story angsty. :)


	5. As the Flames spread

When he had taken the books to one of the branches of Central’s library, he had done so without a second thought. Hughes had passed the books off on him claiming that the investigations department didn’t have enough hands to deal with translations, and he did owe the man a favor. He had been worried about the breach of security but Hughes assured him the books were harmless, though out of everything it could’ve been, he did not think one of the books would be some kind of cookbook. 

It was moments like this he couldn’t help but wonder if he should’ve stayed in East City. 

At least there he wouldn’t have to deal with Hughes barging into his office at multiple instances throughout the day. Not even Hawkeye’s threats were able to deter the man, something he found both amusing and highly annoying.

“Sir, shall we get going?”

Mustang nodded his head, “Lead the way Lieutenant.”

The only good thing to come out of this was that he could get out of doing the paperwork for however long it took to get the translations and send them to Hughes. The glare on Riza’s face was the only thing which stopped him from grinning, sometimes he really hated how easily she could understand him.

Mustang waited until they were seated in the car before asking, “Who are we meeting with?”

“Edward Elric.” Riza pulled away from the curb, “According to the head librarian, he’s a recent hire. He works in an office at the back of the library as a translator. Though he occasionally helps out with shelving books or cleaning up after closing.”

“Hm, it’s not often someone applies to work at a library as a translator.”

“Apparently he moved to Central a few months ago, Mrs. Durne says he loves the library, she has a hard time getting him to leave when his shift ends.”

Mustang snorted, “Sounds like Hughes when he can’t figure out a translation.”

There had been far too many instances where Gracia called asking him to pick up Hughes and remind him to eat during the day.

“Well, he sounded reasonably on the phone. Polite too, though I believe he felt uncomfortable speaking with me.”

“Because of you or your ranking as a military officer.”

“I don’t know.”

Mustang sighed, dealing with someone who held issues with the military was not something he wanted to deal with today. It was bad enough when civilians tried interfering with officers' missions. “Very well, if he proves to be difficult then we’ll just deal with it when the time arrives”

The silence between them lasted for a few minutes before Mustang spoke, “Was there something else, Lieutenant?”

“I’m not sure, there was nothing particular about our conversation that struck me as odd. We didn’t even speak for more than a couple of minutes.”

“...But?”

“But I got the feeling that there was something Mr. Elric was keeping from me. Almost as though he was purposely monitoring how he was speaking to avoid saying something.”

“Was he like that for the entire conversation?” Mustang frowned, “Or did you mention something that could’ve upset him?”

“The only thing we talked about was the books, Sir.”

Mustang hummed, not entirely sure what else to say on the matter. If they hadn’t been in one of the militaries issued vehicles then perhaps they could’ve gone into more detail, and even dropped the formalities. Sadly, they could never be too sure if they were being listened in on. Mustang had tried finding all of the bugs in the office and cars but new ones kept popping up within the week.

The drive to the library passed by relatively quick. The roads were clear of traffic at this time of day.

Of course, he would have preferred going anywhere bar the library at this time. There were groups of kids running throughout the front room and a handful of teens sitting at the tables. He had gotten used to the first branch library, there only people of the military were granted access. He hasn’t gone to a local library in years… it was odd seeing so many kids, and adults that he did not recognize.

An elderly woman sitting behind the desk came over to greet them once they stepped inside.

Her brown hair was pulled back into a bun with few streaks of grey mingling with the other stands. She seemed startled to see them but smiled politely nonetheless. 

“Hello Colonel, Lieutenant. What can I do for the two of you?”

“Mrs. Durne?” Riza asked, seeing the librarian, Mrs. Durne nod, she continued, “Good afternoon, I contacted Mr. Elric yesterday evening and he said to be here around twelve to pick up the translations.”

“...He brought his work home with him, didn’t he! That boy is going to run himself into the ground one of these days!”

“Ma’am?” Mustang cut in, smiling gently when she turned her attention toward him.

“Oh, oh! I’m sorry,” Mrs. Durne cleared her throat, her cheeks flushing, “Just head straight to the back, please. Edward’s office is the only door without a window on it.”

“Thank you.”

Thinking back on it, Mustang realized as they made their way through the library, that the translations being finished so quickly was a bit surprising. After all, the packaging that the books were in was rather thick. Since he didn’t exactly get to see the books themselves he wasn’t even sure if the ones translated were large or if that supposed cookbook was what took up so much space. 

He still wasn’t sure what to think about that cookbook.

Hughes had definitely checked out the books ahead of time, so why did he include some type of cookbook? Also, what was with the authors’ names? While the last name Marcoh wasn’t all that rare, a surprisingly short phone call with one of Hughes's assistants told him the book was written by a Dr. Tim Marcoh.

The exact same name as the former Crystal Alchemist who had deserted shortly after the Ishvalan war had begun.

Perhaps later he could look through that book on his own, see if it was actually just some cookbook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, writing a change in pov was kinda fun. I might try it out again later on.


	6. Colonel Bastard

...This was it. He was going to get himself arrested by the end of this meeting, he just knew it.

Somehow he managed to pull off getting all of the translations done the night before, it hadn’t even taken him as long as he expected it too. Once he realized the second book had been in Xingnese as well, he was able to read through it much quicker than the other one. However, because he hasn’t exactly been getting as much rest as he should’ve been lately, he ended up passing out on the couch. Once again-his back was killing him and he woke up later than he had planned. He ended up eating his room temperature sandwiches before he took off running to get to the library in time for his shift.

He managed to get there in time, though he may have given a few passerby's on the sidewalks a heart attack when he ran past them. 

Everything was going fine until he was startled out of his work by a knock on his office door. The only people he was expecting to visit was the Lieutenant and the Colonel bastard. Though a few other workers at the library had a habit of walking in, they never knocked.

“Come in!” Edward called out.

The door swung open, and Edward watched as two people came into the room. They both took off their hats, and he could only assume that the blonde-haired woman was the one he had talked too on the phone. Riza Hawkeye if he remembered correctly, which meant the man had to have been the Colonel Roy Mustang she mentioned. He just barely kept the scowl off of his face as the man’s dark eyes met his own and smirked.

He even looked like a smug bastard.

Getting to his feet, Edward walked around his desk and stuffed his hands into his pocket, “Lieutenant Hawkeye and Colonel Ba-Mustang?”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Elric,” The woman stepped towards him and help her hand out, “Please feel free to call me Riza or just Hawkeye.”

Edward grasped her hand, putting extra caution in keeping his grip loose, “Hawkeye then. You guys can call me Edward or Ed.”

Edward held his hand out to the Colonel first, figuring he might as well get it over with. It would’ve looked odd if he purposely switched hands now.

The man, Mustang’s eyes narrowed as they shook hands before smiling at him, “In that case, you may call me either Roy or Mustang, my Lieutenant tells me that you would have the translations finished by now?”

“Yeah, I finished them last night actually,” Edward shrugged, “Turns out the second book was pretty much a copy of the first. There were only a few differences.”

“What were the books about?”

“Xing’s culture and the history of the land.”

Edward turned, making his way back over to his desk and getting the books out from his bottom drawer, “Both books were in Xingnese, I translated everything and the part where the second book differs from the first I have marked with blue tabs.”

Edward held them in his hand for a moment, not sure who he was supposed to hand the books off too but after a moment handed them to Mustang since the man was standing closer than Hawkeye was. He noticed how the man slowly flipped through the books before holding the cookbook up and stared at the cover.

Hawkeye took the Xingnese books and their translations while Mustang flipped through the cookbook.

Mustang frowned, muttering, “...Still, don’t know why the hell Hughes left a cookbook of all things in here…”

“Hughes?” Edward’s brow furrowed, “As in Maes Hughes or Gracia?”

Mustang’s eyes shot up, “You know Maes?”

“I met him yesterday, at the grocery store. He was very…” Edward grimaced, “Very enthusiastic to tell me about his wife and daughter.”

Hawkeye’s lips twitched as she took the cookbook and laid it on the top of the pile. “He certainly cares for them dearly.”

Mustang snorted, “You’d be lucky to get a word in otherwise, he’d just cut you off anyway to show you some of his pictures.”

Chuckling, Edward grinned slightly as he remembered how Hughes had tried to show him a bundle of pictures while they were in the car but Gracia had put a stop to it immediately since Hughes was the one driving. It was a bit overwhelming how willing and how intense Hughes was about proclaiming his love but it was also sort of sweet… in an odd way that Edward noted to never mention to Winry or Al. Those two had a habit of obsessing over cute things, he had no doubt in his mind they would’ve been just as giddy as Hughes to look over pictures of Elicia.

“Thank you for getting these done so quickly,” Hawkeye said dryly, “It’s not often I meet someone who can get their work done so efficiently.”

Edward raised a brow as Mustang coughed and pointedly looked away from Hawkeye. He was somewhat tempted to ask just what that meant but it wasn’t really any of his business.

“Hmm,” Mustang cleared his throat, “Well, teens always are intent on getting a job done if they put their mind on it.”

Edward twitched, “...Did you just call me a teenager?”

“Uh… Aren’t you? I mean you are a bit small for a teen but I’m sure you’re old enough to be working here.”

“Who the hell are you calling small you Colonel Bastard?!” Edward roared startling both of them, “I’m twenty-six! Twenty-six! I’m not a fucking teenager!”

Mustang blinked, a silence falling over them as Edward stood there, panting lightly. The silence was broken by Mustang bursting into laughter while Hawkeye frowned at him in disapproval. Edwards’ hands were clenched into fists by his side, he knew he didn’t like the bastard for a reason. Who the hell did he think he was, coming in there and calling him short? Edward knew he wasn’t short, he just… wasn’t as tall as other people his age.

“Sir.”

“Sorry,” Mustang chuckled, “Sorry Elric. I’m sure you’re still growing.”

“GET THE HELL OUT!” Edward snapped, his arms jerking as he fought the urge to clap his hands and teach this Colonel Bastard just who the hell he was messing with, “It’s not my fault all you damn people go around like you’re wearing stilts! Who the hell even cares how tall someone is?! Huh?!”

“Stilts, huh? Proclaiming your wishes for this Christmas?”

“Why you-”

Edward froze as a clicking echoed throughout the room. Eyes darting to the side, he took in how Hawkeye was no longer holding the books or the translations, instead, she was cocking a gun and staring at them coldly.

“I believe that’s enough. We need to get going, we are on a schedule after all.”

Scowling at them, Edward muttered curses under his breath, walking towards his coat and suitcase as he hurriedly grabbed them. He didn’t have time to deal with this nonsense. The only reason why he was still at work was that he had been waiting for them to come to pick up the translations so he could leave already. 

No paying either of them any more attention, Edward stalked past them.

If he hurried then he could still make it in time to go visit Al before his night class started.


	7. Curiosity killed the cat

Leaving the library and heading back to Command took far less time then Mustang wanted it too. They didn’t run into Elric once as they were leaving. He’d been hoping that it would take them just long enough that he wouldn’t have to get started on work right away.

“Sir, did you have to antagonize him?”

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Mustang shrugged, “What can I say? He shouldn’t have made it so easy.”

It was fun if he was being honest. He didn’t expect Elric to react like that, he really did believe that he was a teenager working at the library on his free time or something. It was surprising to learn the man was just three years younger than him, his height certainly wasn't doing him any favors. Though he had to admit that Elric wasn’t that much shorter than him, just by a couple of inches if he had to guess.

“We could’ve been in and out of there within a matter of minutes if you didn’t start an argument with him.”

Mustang held open the door to his office as Hawkeye walked pass and set the translations down on his desk. He was curious where the rest of his team was at but he figured they were probably still in the cafeteria, lunchtime wasn’t supposed to end for another thirty minutes or so. Mustang sat down at his desk, picking up the cookbook from the pile and setting it down in front of him.

“What did you think? Of Elric I mean.”

Riza frowned thoughtfully, “I’m… not sure. Other than expressing his disdain towards his height being mentioned, there wasn’t much to tell. The bags under his eyes suggest a poor sleeping schedule, and I don’t think he noticed how his stomach was growling.”

”Is that all?”

“He kept his grip purposely loose when we shook hands and made sure to distance himself from us after introductions were done.”

Mustang hummed, leaning back in his chair, “He was oddly intent on keeping an eye on me with this cookbook too…”

“Is it really just a cookbook?”

“I don’t know,” Mustang picked said book up and flipped to the first page, “From first glance, I would say yes. However, something about this just seems odd… and Elric's had plenty of time to look through it... It’s written by Tim Marcoh? If it’s the same Marcoh I’m thinking about then why, and when did he decide to write a cookbook? Why did Hughes send it with the other books? Was he trying to pass it on to me and I just didn’t look through the package to take it out or did he actually want Elric to look through it?”

“I take it you want to read through it thoroughly?” Seeing Mustang nod, Riza continued, “I hope you don’t intend to try and get out of doing your paperwork with this, Sir.”

“O-Of course not!” 

“There is still some time before lunch is over, would you like me to bring you something?”

Mustang shook his head, “I want to stop by the Investigations room.”

“You’ll have roughly twenty minutes before I expect you back here to get your work done. Don’t forget to take the translations with you.”

Mustang stared down at the cookbook, just the first page alone had an odd list of ingredients that normally wouldn’t be listed together. The directions written in the margins were in-concise and frankly didn’t make sense to him. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more going on here, and he just wasn’t seeing it. Sighing, Mustang rolled the cookbook up and stuffed it inside of his uniform. He’d look it over more carefully after work.

It wasn’t until he had already made his way down to the investigations office that he realized Hughes might not even be in at the moment.

Some days he had a habit of going home during his break to eat with Gracia and Elicia.

Mustang made his way into the room, a quick glance around showed no one of the investigations team at any of the desks. “I guess he did go home then.”

“Roy! Looking for me?”

“What the hell, Hughes?!” Mustang yelled as Hughes popped up from underneath of what Mustang could only hope was his own desk.

Hughes laughed, “Sorry, sorry! I knocked some papers down so I was picking them up. Did you need me for something? It’s not like you to come to visit me at work, you know.”

“Because anytime you’re around I can never get any work done.”

“Oh come on, it’s not like you get your work done in the first place!”

“Hey!”

Hughes dusted off his pants as he came around his desk to lean against the front of it, “Can I ask why you have such a grumpy expression on your face?”

“...Those translations you gave to me-”

“Did you lose them in your paperwork? Or did you forget to take them over to the library for me? I kinda need those books by the end of the week.”

“Actually they’re already translated.” Mustang lifted the papers and books in his arms a little higher, “I wanted to ask you about that cookbook though.”

“Cookbook?” Hughes frowned, crossing his arms as he thought it over, “Uh… Oh! Oh yeah! I was wondering where that went, I didn’t realize I had it with the books I gave to you.”

“So you didn’t mean to give it to me?”

“No? Honestly, I found it by accident. I was in the library searching for a book when I found it and thought the authors' name was familiar.”

Mustang grunted, “I’ll take it back to the library for you when I get the chance.”  _ I’m holding onto it, for now, there’s something I want to check out. _

“Sure! Just make sure you return it by Monday, I don’t want them to see it's gone and come after me.”  _ Go ahead, but be careful. They’re keeping an eye on us. _

“Sure thing Hughes.” _ You too. _


	8. Chance Encounters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is based on coincidences, so expect a lot to appear.

It figured that the one time he wanted to go visit Al on campus, it’d start to downpour. He wasn't even halfway there and he was already soaked down to the bone. He had a feeling it was going to storm or something with how his stumps had been aching… he didn't expect it to start so soon though. He should've brought a damn umbrella with him. If Al saw him like this, not only would he laugh at him but he would start nagging as well. Edward didn’t want Al to think he didn’t know how to take care of himself just because he forgot his umbrella once.

Edward tried his best to avoid the large puddles forming on the sidewalks but his best didn't seem to be enough. 

The rain was seeping into his boots, wetting his sock and eventually his foot as well. He knew he’d have to get either to Al’s dorm soon or back to the apartment so he could dry his automail. As more and more people started to go about their days, despite it being the afternoon, the sidewalks grew crowded. Almost everyone had some type of jacket or an umbrella with them so they didn't seem too bothered by the rain. Edward wished he could say the same. It was as he was standing at the corner waiting for the cars to slow down so he could cross the street, that he overheard a few people talking.

“Did you hear? About the first branch library?”

“No?”

“It caught fire a few hours ago! Hopefully, this rain will help put it out, I hear they were having issues controlling the flames.”

“Are you for real? The entire library?”

“Yea-”

Edward startled as the car next to him honked its horn. Slowly the car in front of it picked up speed. The first branch burned down? That was… unexpected. That would mean there was a lot of military research, and books caught up in the fire. There was a chance it could’ve been ruined badly enough that the people there would have lost their jobs as well. He silently hoped that no lives had been lost.

While this meant there was a chance he’d have to fight to keep his job, he wasn’t too worried. 

After all, he knew he was valuable to the library. There weren’t many people who could fluently speak as many languages as he could. He would have to try and keep this from Al’s attention though, just in case he did lose his job. It shouldn’t be that hard to get a new one, but Al wouldn’t see it that way. Al would probably think he’d stay jobless and end up becoming homeless shortly thereafter.

Edward quickly jogged across the street.

Technically, he didn’t even lose his job so he didn’t have anything to worry about just yet. Besides, he knew better than to put off getting a new job if it came down to it, Winry would bludgeon him to death if he did. Then again, she’d bludgeon him to death for getting caught out in this rain with his automail, he hadn’t had maintenance in a couple of months. 

Muttering under his breath, Edward weaved his way through the throng of people before him. 

Maybe if he hurried, he’d be able to make it to campus before long and get out of this rain.

“Whoa!” 

Edward cursed, staring down at the man he had just practically rammed down. The man’s face was pinched in pain with his blond hair plastered to his forehead, he’d hit him with his automail… shit.

“Are you okay?” Edward didn’t wait for a response, reaching down and hauling the man to his feet. 

The guy wasn’t exactly light but he wasn’t heavy either. It wasn’t hard to lift him, though the guy looked shocked that he could.

“...How the hell did you just lift me?” The guy gawked, “Trust me, I’m not some type of feather, you know.”

Edward snorted, “I’ve lifted heavier before, anyway, you gonna answer me or not? You good?”

The guy grinned, “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine, where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“I was heading to campus, but now? Now I’m just looking to get the hell outta this rain.”

Laughing the guy leaned down and picked up an umbrella Edward just noticed was on the ground, “Here, I’m near a friend’s house so I don’t really need it.”

“Don’t bother, I’m already soaked.”

“You sure?” The guy looked him over, critically, “No offense… but you don’t exactly look well. You sorta look like you’re about to drop.”

“Saying no offense does not mean there won’t be any offense taken.” Edward sighed, “Seriously though, I’m drenched. You aren’t. Get under the damn umbrella before you get sick, you idiot.”

“Sure thing boss,” The guy saluted him, grinning.

Rolling his eyes, Edward stepped around the guy tossing a goodbye over his shoulder as he took off down the sidewalk once more. Honestly, he didn’t even feel up to making his way to the campus now. He just wanted to get back to the apartment, probably take a hot shower, and spend the rest of the day relaxing. He didn’t count on running into some man with an odd scar covering the majority of his face. He found him in the alleyway closest to his apartment, the only reason why Edward even noticed him there was because he saw the blood on the ground.

He felt his heart stop for a moment, all sorts of scenarios running through his head as he followed the trail.

He didn’t expect to find an older man leaning against one of the buildings bleeding from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Edward stopped a few feet away, hesitant to get any closer. The guy, whoever he was, didn’t seem to notice him standing there. Clearing his throat, Edward winced as the man’s head snapped up. Red eyes staring at him through the shattered lenses of his glasses. Clearly that sudden movement caused him pain but the man didn’t move a muscle, keeping his narrowed eyes on Edward. Holding his hands up, trying to show the guy he was unarmed, Edward slowly inched his way closer.

“Uh… You okay?” Seeing the look the man gave him, Edward shook his head, “Right. Stupid question, listen can you walk? Or do I need to carry you? My apartment is a block at most from here.”

“...What?”

Edward sighed, “I said, can you walk? If you can’t but want to try and stick it out then don’t. Your pride is just going to get yourself injured more.”

Not waiting for a response Edward darted forward, immediately stooping down to pull on of the man's’ arms over his own shoulders. The man tensed, trying and failing to pull himself away but Edward kept his grip tight. 

“Relax, would you? I’m not going to hurt you… well, not on purpose at least. Try not to trip alright?”

What the hell was he getting himself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only good thing to come of this week is 4 more days until my birthday. Then its papers due back to back on top of quizzes and tests. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner...


	9. Veggie or Meat Stew?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a month or so with this, I ended up pushing this to the side because I had another idea for an FMA story and it would not leave me alone until I wrote it out.

He’s shocked they made it to the apartment without any major incidents. Though Edward had a feeling that was because the guy had passed out fairly quickly during the walk. It certainly made it harder on him, having to lug around dead weight while his automail was already fucking killing him. It took far longer than he would’ve liked, having to take a longer route and stick to the backways just to avoid anyone’s attention. He didn’t want someone to see them and think he had been the one to attack the man. 

He debated on contacting the local law enforcement… but this guy was clearly an Ishvalan…

Even an idiot was aware of the tense, practically nonexistent relationship between the Ishvalan people and the people of Amestris.

Which left him with no choice but to try and tend to the man's wounds himself. Something… he honestly didn’t trust himself to do, but it wasn’t like he could just call someone to come do it for him. First things first, Edward set the guy down on the couch feeling only a little put off by how the guy didn’t so much as let out a grunt from the less than smooth landing. He kicked the coffee table a few times to move it further from the couch, giving him enough room to kneel down next to it. He needed to get this guy out of his wet clothing, hopefully before an infection sets in and before the water completely seeped into the couch.

“Goddamnit,” Edward bit his lip, slowly peeling back the man's clothing and periodically glancing at his face to see if he was waking up.

He did  _ not _ want this guy waking up just to see him undressing him.

It would go quicker if the damn clothes weren’t practically glued to the guys’ body. The mix of blood and water was causing them to stick to his skin and Edward was wary about just yanking on them. He didn’t want to cause the guy any more injuries. Edward quickly got to his feet, managing to keep from wincing and rushed to the kitchen for the first aid kit. Winry made him start keeping one in there after the third time he set the stove on fire. If he remembered correctly, there should be a pair of scissors in there and enough supplies to help him treat the guys’ wound…

It was somewhat disappointing that the guy still hasn't woken up by the time he made it back to the couch.

It felt awkward trying to cut through clothing but the scissors worked efficiently enough. The clothing pulled away and Edward only left a cut-out patch of the guy’s shirt over the gunshot wound. Some of the cloth seemed to be stuck inside the wound and he didn’t want to pull it out and cause it to bleed more. It looked like the bleeding was finally starting to slow so he assumed it was beginning to clot. So the cloth was no going to be moved, not until he had whatever he needed out of the first aid kit and nearby to grab at a moment’s notice. He took out multiple pads of gauze and some of that medical tape which he set on the coffee table. He wasn't sure what exactly he would need but he knew he had to at least see if there was an exit wound and if he should try and do stitches.

He hoped stitches wouldn’t be necessary. 

He could do it if need be but he didn’t have as steady of a hand as most medical practitioners did. Knowing his luck, he’d screw it up and end up needed to call somebody, most likely Al, to come to fix it before the guy could get an infection. Edward grimaced as he wiggled a hand under the guys’ shoulder, prodding around to feel for some type of exit would. Which… he just stuck his finger in. 

Gagging, Edward quickly pulled his hand back. 

At least now he knew he wouldn’t have to go digging around in the guys’ shoulder to try and find the bullet. Opening the bottle of rubbing alcohol, Edward held it above the wound with one hand while his other hand held onto a corner of the cloth stuck in the wound. He quickly yanked the cloth out of the wound, cursing as blood immediately swelled to the surface. He tilted the bottle, pouring the rubbing alcohol onto the wound as he reached behind him to pull some of the gauze pads off of the coffee table.

He was worried that he would run out of gauze trying to clean the wound.

If he ran out then what was he supposed to use to cover the wound on both sides?

“Crap… crap. Crap. Crap.” Edward rolled up a few pads and stuffed them into the wound, grabbing a few extra pads to lay on top of the gauze. 

He quickly taped it down before the blood could soak through. Thankfully, the bleeding seemed to be slowing down. Now he just had to do the other side… Easier said than done. He was hoping the guy would wake up to help him work on the exit wound but the guy stayed unconscious. Edward almost dropped him multiple times trying to lift him high enough to see the back of his shoulder. He ended up turning the guy on his side and stuffing his face into the back of the couch so he could focus on cleaning up and bandaging the wound.

He’ll definitely need to restock his first aid kit after this.

Edward sat back on his heels, “Okay... okay you should be good. I think.”

Rushing to his bedroom, Edward quickly grabbed a new outfit and made his way to the bathroom. He was glad to get out of the dirty clothing, the blood from the stranger hadn't dried just yet so he hoped he'd be able to get it out in the wash. He would have preferred to take a shower and properly clean himself off but he didn’t want to just leave the guy out on the couch with no one to monitor him in case he took a turn for the worse. Wearing clean clothing, Edward hurried out to the living room, peeking in to check on the guy before making his way over to the landline.

He entered the number to the University without much thought, a few minutes of redirecting with a few secretaries before he was put through to the line connecting to Al’s dorm room.

“Hello?”

“Heya Al.”

“Ed! I thought you were coming over?”

“Sorry Al had a change of plans.”

“Because of the rain? Is it your automail? Please tell me you didn’t forget to dry it off again.”

Edward winced, “I… I was going too?”

“Edward!”

“I sort of got a lot on my mind at the moment Al, I’ll do it as soon as I’m off the phone, promise.” Though he was sure that the rainwater would have dried by now, he’d have to check over to make sure it was fully dried. He couldn’t risk any rust forming on his automail.

“Alright, if you don’t and it gets inflamed I’m telling Winry!”

“Oh come on! She’ll kill me if that happens!”

“Sorry brother, but she made me promise to tell her if anything happens to your automail. She doesn’t trust you to do it since you went a week with your arm broken before admitting it to her... So how’s work going? You haven’t been staying overtime again have you?”

“Winry is downright terrifying and you can’t tell me otherwise! I haven’t been there later than I need to be, they keep kicking me out before it can get too late. I recently got a few books to translate for some Colonel Bastard. I ended up with a cookbook to translate, it turns out the entire thing was coded and written about Alchemy.” Edward leaned against the wall, one hand coming up to rub at his neck.

“A cookbook? What does the military need with a cookbook? What was it about? What kind of Alchemy was in it?”

"Slow down there Al, I’m getting to it. There was a section on green tea. Pretty sure it was about the stones," Edward leaned against the wall, closing his eyes as he thought back to what he read from the cookbook.

"Brother, you don't think-?"

"Yeah Al, I think it's referencing the green lion. I'll have to reread Flamels work but I'm pretty sure-"

"It was based on how to make a Philosopher's stones?"

"How to create them and destroy them."

"But why would something like that be written in a cookbook of all things? And who’s, uh, Who’s Colonel Bastard?"

"He’s a prick and I dunno. All I know is this Marcoh character went into detail about all of this. He referenced Ishval a coup-" Edward cut himself off, his head jerking to the side as a crashing noise came from the living room, "Shit. Al, I gotta go."

"Wait, Ed-!"

Edward hung up, slamming the phone down against the receiver as he ran to the living room. The guy somehow managed to fall off the couch and against the coffee table despite it being moved out of the way.

“What… what did you say about Ishval?”

“Listen you probably shouldn’t be moving-”

“Tell me what you were on the phone about,” The guy demanded, trying and failing to get to his feet.

“Stop moving you fucking idiot!” Edward snapped, rushing over, “I’ll tell you if you sit on the fucking couch and stop moving before you start bleeding all over again!”

“...Where am I?” 

“You’re at my apartment,” Edward grunted, helping lift the guy back onto the couch, “I found you in an alleyway a block or so from here. You passed out but I guess getting shot gives you a pass for fainting on me.”

The guy didn’t say a word, Edward eyed him warily as he stood up and took a step back from the couch.

“You’re not going to try and attack me are you?”

“Not unless you give me a reason too.”

Edward snorted, “Well that’s one way of saying thanks to the guy who hauled your heavy ass here.”

Seeing the guys’ brow twitch, Edward couldn’t hold back his grin.

“...Thank you…”

“You’re welcome,” Edward grinned, “Okay, so I pretty much stuffed you full of gauze, didn’t know what else to do. The bleeding slowed so I didn’t give you any stitches, though if you made yourself bleed again then you might need a hospital. I’d recommend seeing an actual doctor now either way.”

The guy didn’t say a word. Sitting back on the couch and staring at Edward as he sat down on the coffee table for the upcoming discussion. Edward was about to tell him what happened after getting the guy back to the apartment but he was stopped as a loud growling noise broke the momentary silence. 

Edward blinked, “...Uh, I guess our talk can wait until after we get something to eat? Is there anything you can’t have? I know that a few of the Ishvalan’s I met don’t like meat, but I’ve met one or two who are fine with it. What about you? Is meat okay? I can try making a stew but no way in hell am I putting milk in it.”

“I… I can eat meat. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I am doing this to myself. I have so many papers to write for Uni and yet here I am starting yet another story. I blame rewatching FMAB and getting hooked all over again.


End file.
